Eco-cheap: New 2017 Toyota Prius One trims hybrid price

Toyota has quietly made a few changes to its 2017 Prius, including a new base model that's $1,210 cheaper than the base model offered just a few months ago.

At $24,360, including a mandatory $885 destination charge, the 2017 Prius One is well-equipped but is missing a few key items that helps lower its price tag. For that figure, buyers don't get a spare tire, a rear wiper, or pockets on the back of the driver and passenger seats.

But it does retain all of the safety tech that Toyota recently made standard on nearly all of its models—adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, automatic high beam headlights, and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection.

Other Prius models—the Prius Two, Prius Three, Prius Three Touring, Prius Four, and Prius Four Touring—now offer a blind spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert, and automatic rear braking as a no-cost option. That safety tech was previously worth about $1,000, but Toyota is simply including it as standard.

Well, there could be some confusion on at dealerships, since this is a mid-model year change and may be hard to spot.

If you're shopping for a Prius and either a low price of entry or additional safety tech is important to you, make sure to look closely at the federally mandated window sticker. Ensure first that the vehicle identification number (commonly referred to as a VIN) listed on the window sticker and the car are the same, and then look closely at the model and optional equipment listed.